Behavior Alternatives to Open New Opportunities

Monthly Archives: March 2015

Areas of Need Treated by Pediatric Speech-Language Pathologists

(by Michelle Turkoglu)

When people ask what I do for a living and I tell them, “I’m a speech-language pathologist”, I get a lot of follow-up questions as to what that means or questions about what kinds of cases I may treat or the places where I work. I’ve even found that professionals in related fields such as teachers and doctors are unsure of what a speech-therapist might work on. I think the term “speech-therapist” makes people think that we work on helping people make sounds correctly or help people who stutter. And while those are definitely areas that we treat, “speech and language” covers all areas of human communication. Please check out the following list for a summary of areas that are commonly treated by pediatric Speech Language Pathologists (SLPs). However, experience with certain types of diagnoses or disorders can vary greatly between therapists, so when seeking help from a speech-language pathologist, be sure to ask if he or she is comfortable treating the areas that you are concerned about.

Apraxia: Usually first observed in young children and is characterized by very little or limited speaking, difficulty in saying words even in repetition, articulation errors that don’t follow a set pattern as seen in phonological disorders or developmental articulation disorders, oral-groping (visible difficulty of the mouth getting out words)

Phonological Disorders (patterns of speech errors such as dropping off sounds at the beginning or end of words or dropping one of the consonants in a consonant blend).

Appropriate Play Skills (be a good sport, learning to win and lose graciously, etc.)

AUDITORY ATTENTION, MEMORY, & PROCESSING

Rote memory (remember a series of numbers or words)

Working Memory (holding onto information in order to complete a task or use that information in some way)

Attention (maintain attention & stay focused, block out distractions, and know how and when to seek help/clarification)

Recalling details to answer questions (i.e. listening to a sentence, a few sentences, or even paragraphs and be able to recall details)

Processing language of increased length and complexity

Speech Language Pathologists teach students strategies for being able to hold onto information and process information better. These strategies include teaching kids to: subvocalize (say the words back to themselves), visualize (make a mental picture of a word, sentence, sentences), chunk (group a list of numbers or words together as in a phone number), clip (understand the key details and “pull out” these words to subvocalize or visualize).

Phonological/Phonemic awareness (which is the understanding of a word’s sound structure)- These skills are needed for the efficient decoding of printed words and the ability to form connections between sounds and letters when spelling

HEARING IMPAIRMENT

AUGMENTATIVE AND ALTERNATIVE COMMUNICATION

For children with limited or no verbal speech, a Speech Language Pathologist can help find other ways to communicate such as sign language, picture exchange communication (PECS), computer-based devices, etc.

Michelle Turkoglu, M.S., CCC-SLP, is now accepting new clients at Alternative Behavior Strategies. We will be accepting most major insurances!

Michelle holds a Master’s degree in Speech-Language Pathology from San Francisco State University and a Bachelor’s degree in Communication Disorders from the University of New Hampshire. She has attained the Certificate of Clinical Competence (CCC) by the American Speech Language and Hearing Association (ASHA) and is licensed by the Utah Speech-Language Pathology Board. She also a member of the Utah Speech and Hearing Association (USHA).

Michelle has over 13 years of experience and has worked in a variety of settings, including a private school for children with Autism, public schools, special day classes, Montessori school, home-based and clinic-based services.

She enjoys working with children of all ages and has extensive clinical experience with a wide range of delays, disorders and diagnoses. She has received training and continuing education in areas such as behavior management, simple sign language, PECS, apraxia (including PROMPT), oral-musculature disorders, feeding, sensory disorders, stuttering & auditory-processing disorders. She believes strongly in communicating and collaborating with all team members involved in the child’s progress, especially their parents and caregivers.